Medicine feeding device and a medicine counting device using the medicine feeding device

ABSTRACT

A medicine feeding device is configured by providing a first rotor  23  that rotates around a first shaft  24 , a second rotor  35  that rotates around a second shaft, a partition wall  18  extending from the second rotor  35  towards the first rotor  23 , a medicine discharge port  73  provided on the outside of the second rotor  35 , a medicine guide section  65  located in the downstream of a movement section  37  in the medicine transport direction, and a height regulator  41  disposed between the movement section  37  and medicine guide section  65 . In addition, the width regulator  52  that is disposed between the medicine guide section  65  and the height regulator  41  is further provided. Also, the medicine counting device is further provided with a medicine detection means  70  for detecting a medicine that is supplied from the medicine discharge port  73 , and a counting means (central control unit  83 ) for counting the medicines based on the detection by the medicine detection means  70.

This application is a national phase application under 35 U.S.C. §371 ofInternational Application Serial No. PCT/JP2012/051040, filed on Jan.19, 2012, and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japan PatentApplication No. 2011-010281, filed on Jan. 20, 2011, Japan PatentApplication No. 2011-044113, filed on Mar. 1, 2011, and Japan PatentApplication No. 2011-099558, filed Apr. 27, 2011 which are herebyexpressly incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a medicine feeding device capable ofsupplying medicines of different shape or size such as tablets,capsules, etc. one by one, and a medicine counting device whichprescribes by counting a predetermined number of the medicine using themedicine feeding device.

BACKGROUND ART

A medicine counting device that counts many medicines has been describedin Patent Document 1. This medicine counting device consists of acentral circular plate member, which is rotated by a first drive means,and a circular ring member rotated by a second drive means. Therotational axes of each of the circular plate member and the circularring member are made coaxial so as to be mutually planar, and they arerotated in opposite directions by each drive means. Also, a medicineguide section extending outwards is provided in the outer circumferenceof the circular ring member.

However, in this medicine counting device, a number of medicines thatwere not supplied to the medicine guide section are transported in theopposite direction on the circular ring member and on the circular platemember. Due to this, the medicine that moves from the plate member tothe circular ring member collides with the medicine that is alreadymoving on the circular ring member, and the medicine that was moved fromthe circular ring member to the plate member also collides with themedicine on the plate member. As a result, in case of a medicine that isin the form of a tablet made by compressing the medicine, there is aproblem of occurrence of cracking and chipping.

On the other hand, Patent Document 2 describes a feeder effecting supplyby aligning small items. This feeder is provided with a firstdisk-shaped rotor that is rotated by a first drive means, and a secondring-shaped rotor that is rotated by a second drive means. The firstaxis of the first rotor is arranged so as to be inclined at apredetermined angle, and the second axis of the second rotor is arrangedso as to extend in a vertical direction. Further, the first rotor isconfigured such that the part that is positioned at the top end due toinclination is positioned at the same height of the inner circumferenceof the second rotor. In addition, in the inner circumference of thesecond rotor, a frame wall is provided integrally so as to enclose theouter circumference of the first rotor.

In the feeder according to the Patent document 2, the feed material ismoved from the upper edge to the second rotor by the rotation of thefirst rotor. Thereupon, with the help of a regulator provided on thesecond rotor, only a feed material of designated posture is passedthrough to the downstream side, and a feed material of different postureis dropped from the inner circumference of the second rotor onto thefirst rotor. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the feed materials,which are being supplied, from colliding with each other.

However, when such a feeder is used for feeding medicines, two or morefeed materials may pass through the regulator at the same time, and befed to the guide section at the outlet in a state where the feedmaterials are lined up in two rows in the radial direction. As a result,there is a problem of occurrence of clogging at the entrance of theguide section. Moreover, if the medicine is a tablet of non-circular ina planar view or a capsule wherein a medicine is housed inside thecapsule, even if they are fed one by one, for example, there is aproblem of occurrence of clogging at the entrance of the guide section,or inside the guide section, depending on the moving posture.

RELATED ART DOCUMENTS Patent Documents

-   Patent document 1: Republic of China new patent Notice No. M308903-   Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication    (Translation of PCT Application) 1-51403

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

The first objective of the present invention is to provide a medicinefeeding device wherein medicines of different shapes and sizes can befed one by one with certainty and without causing cracking and chipping.The second objective of the present invention is to provide, using thismedicine feeding device, a medicine counting device that can dispensepredetermined number of medicine with certainty.

Means for Solving the Problems

To solve the problems mentioned above, a medicine feeding device of thepresent invention is provided with:

a first rotor that is configured to rotate around a first axis;

a second rotor in annular shape that is configured to rotate around asecond axis extending in a direction different from that of the firstaxis; and

a partition wall extending from an inner circumference of the secondrotor toward an outer circumference of the first rotor;

wherein a medicine fed to the first rotor is transferred by rotation ofthe first rotor to a transfer part of the second rotor, and transferredmedicine is transported to a downstream side in a rotating direction byrotation of the second rotor,

and further provided with:

a medicine discharging port provided outside in a radial direction ofthe second rotor;

a medicine guiding section that is configured to guide a medicine on thesecond rotor to the medicine discharge port, the medicine guidingsection including

-   -   an inner guide provided in downstream in a medicine transport        direction of a transfer part of the second rotor and extending        from an inner circumference of the second rotor towards the        medicine discharge port, and    -   an outer guide positioned outer side in a radial direction of        the second rotor with respect to an inner guide and having a gap        that is roughly same as a width of a medicine; and

a height regulator provided between a transfer part of the second rotorand the medicine discharging port and positioned so as to have a gapthat is roughly same as a height of a medicine from an upper surface ofthe second rotor.

Here, the second axis extending in a direction that is different fromthat of the first axis implies that the first axis and the second axisare neither parallel nor identical.

As another embodiment, a medicine feeding device can be provided with:

a first rotor that is configured to rotate around a first axis;

a second rotor that is configured to rotate around a second axis, whichextends in a direction that is different from that of the first axis,and located in an outside of the first rotor and forming a ring asviewed from an axial direction of this second axis, and arranged suchthat an outer circumference of the first rotor forms a small step withrespect to an inner circumference of the second rotor; and

a partition wall extending from an inner circumference of the secondrotor toward an outer circumference of the first rotor;

wherein a medicine fed to the first rotor is transferred by rotation ofthe first rotor to a transfer part of the second rotor, and atransferred medicine is transported to a downstream side of a rotatingdirection by a rotation of the second rotor,

the medicine feeding device further provided with:

a medicine discharge port provided in a radially outward direction ofthe second rotor; and

a medicine guiding section that includes an inner guide provided indownstream of a transfer part of the second rotor in a medicinetransport direction and extending from an inner circumference of thesecond rotor toward the medicine discharge port, and an outer guidepositioned on an outside of a radial direction of the second rotor withrespect to the inner guide and having a gap that is roughly same as awidth of a medicine, and the medicine guiding section guides a medicineon the second rotor to the medicine discharge port.

In this medicine feeding device, by the rotation of the first rotor, themedicine is moved onto the second rotor from the movement section thathas a small step with the second rotor. Thereupon, for the medicine thathas climbed on the second rotor, a height that it can pass through isregulated by the height regulator. Therefore, a medicine on the top ofmedicines moving in a vertically stacked state is dropped onto thesecond rotor or otherwise dropped from the inner circumference onto thefirst rotor by coming in contact with the height regulator. Moreover,the medicine that has passed through the height regulator passes throughthe medicine guide section consisting of a pair of guides positioned byproviding a gap roughly same as the width of the medicine, and issupplied to the discharge port one by one. During this, if two or moremedicines are supplied together to the entrance of the medicine guidesection, the medicine positioned on the inner circumference of thesecond rotor comes in contact with the inner guide and is dropped fromthe inner circumference of the second rotor on to the first rotor.

Thus, in the medicine feeding device of the present invention, itbecomes possible to transport the medicines to the upper side of thesecond rotor with the help of the height regulator by lining up one byone without piling up, and align the medicines one by one with the helpof the medicine guide section and discharge to outside through themedicine discharge port. As it is of a configuration wherein manymedicines that are transported are dropped on the first rotor withoutbeing held back at the height regulator or medicine guide section,clogging can be reliably prevented. Because a mutual collision of alarge number of medicines can also be prevented, it is possible toreliably prevent the occurrence of chipping and cracking of themedicines. In addition, in this medicine feeding device, if a medicineis of a height that can pass through between the second rotor and theheight regulator, and of a width so as to pass through medicine guidesection, even if the shape of the medicine is different, it can be movedand supplied without adjustment. Therefore, it is possible to increasethe versatility of the supply of medicine.

In this medicine feeding device, it is preferable to further comprise awidth regulator provided between the medicine guiding section of thesecond rotor and the height regulator, and disposed outside in a radialdirection of the second rotor from an inner circumference of the secondrotor with a predetermined gap, and is configured to regulate atransport width of a medicine in a space between an inner circumferenceof this second rotor and the width regulator. In this way, a medicinethat passes through the height regulator, on coming into contact withthe width regulator, which regulates the transport width of the secondrotor, is moved to the inner circumference side of the second rotor, andonly a medicine of predetermined width can pass to the downstream sideof this width regulator. Due to this, by setting the transporting widthof the second rotor by this width regulator, among the medicines thatwere moving by aligning in the radial direction, only a medicine on theoutside that contacts the width regulator will be able to pass through,whereas the other medicine that is not in contact with the widthregulator will be dropped from the inner circumference of the secondrotor onto the first rotor. Further, in case of a medicine that isnon-circular in a planar view, by setting the transport width of thesecond rotor smaller than the width of the medicine, only a medicine ofpredetermined width in which the longitudinal direction is extendedalong the medicine transport direction will be able to pass through,while a medicine of different posture will be dropped from the innercircumference of the second rotor onto the first rotor. Therefore, itbecomes possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of clogging at theinlet of the medicine guide section located on the downstream side ofmedicine transport direction.

In this case, it is preferable that a transport width of the secondrotor is adjustable by the width regulator. In this way, adjustment canbe made so that a medicine with a different width can pass through oneby one. As a result, the supply of medicines having a variety ofdifferent shapes and sizes can be achieved.

It is preferable to adjust the transport width of the second rotor tobetween ½ or more of a medicine width and a width equal to the medicinewidth. In this way, a medicine that is non-circular in a planar viewcannot pass through unless the longitudinal direction is in an extendedstate along the direction of medicine transport. Therefore, it ispossible to reliably prevent the occurrence of clogging at the inlet ofthe medicine guide section.

It is further preferable that the width regulator and an outer guide ofthe medicine guiding section are integrally provided for allowing atransport width of the second rotor and a space between each of guidesof the medicine guiding section to be simultaneously adjustable. In thisway, it becomes possible to improve the workability relating toadjustment, and also to reduce the number of parts.

It is preferable that a regulated height between the height regulatorand the second rotor is adjustable. In this way, adjustment can be madeso that a medicine with a different height can pass through one by one.As a result, the supply of medicines having a variety of differentshapes and sizes can be achieved.

Specifically, it is preferable that a regulated height between theheight regulator and the second rotor is adjustable,

a first medicine detector to detect a medicine passing through theheight regulator and a second medicine detector to detect a medicinepassing through the medicine guiding section are provided, and

the medicine feeding device has a configuration that the heightregulator is gradually raised; the height regulator is stopped when apassage of a medicine is detected by the first medicine detector; anouter guide of the medicine guiding section and the width regulator aregradually moved in a radially outward direction of the second rotor; andan outer guide of the medicine guiding section and the width regulatorare stopped when a passage of a medicine is detected by the secondmedicine detector. In this way, by enabling automatic adjustment ofheight regulator, outer guide of the medicine guide section and thewidth regulator respectively, the convenience of use can be greatlyimproved.

As a specific configuration of such an automatic adjustment, it ispreferable to comprise a memory means to memorize a regulated heightwhen the height regulator is vertically moved to allow a medicine topass through, the regulated height being memorized in association withthe medicine, wherein a regulated height of the height regulator isconfigured to be adjusted by reading a regulated height of the heightregulator associated with a medicine to be supplied from the memorymeans.

In addition, it is preferable to comprise a memory means to memorize atransport width when the width regulator is moved to allow a medicine topass through, the transport width being memorized in association withthe medicine, wherein a transport width of the width regulator isconfigured to be adjusted by reading a transport width of the widthregulator associated with a medicine to be supplied from the memorymeans.

Furthermore, it is preferable that an inner guide of the medicineguiding section is provided with an inclined edge inclining upward at anend section located in an inner circumference of the second rotor. Inthis way, the medicine that was transferred in a projecting state fromthe inner circumference of the second rotor to inside can be reliablyprevented from being clogged at the entrance of the medicine guidesection. This is useful especially when a medicine that is non-circularin a planar view is transported with a slight tilt.

Furthermore, it is preferable that an angle between a first axis of thefirst rotor and a second axis of the second rotor is configured to bemutually variable. In this way, the volume of the medicine loading spaceenclosed by the first rotor and the partition wall can be varieddepending on the loading quantity of the medicine. Moreover, it ispossible to reliably move the medicine to the transfer part by therotation of the first rotor, and to move them onto the second rotor.

It is preferable that an annular rib is provided in an innercircumferential edge of the second rotor so as to come in contact with amedicine transported on the second rotor. With this, even if a medicinethat is transported on the second rotor is not flat, because themedicine comes in contact with two points that are the second rotor andthe rib, the medicine can be prevented from falling on the first rotordue to a change of the direction of the medicine.

It is preferable to provide a means to reverse the second rotor aftercompletion of supply of medicine so as to return medicine remaining onthe second rotor onto the first rotor.

In such case, it is preferable to provide

a means for detecting a medicine transported on the second rotor whenthe second rotor is rotated in a reverse direction for a certain periodfollowed by rotating the first rotor and the second rotor in a forwarddirection; and

a means for notifying if there is a remaining medicine based on adetection signal from a means for detecting a medicine transported onthe second rotor.

In this way, it is possible to confirm the presence of remainingmedicine inside the medicine feeding device without having to visuallymonitor, and to prevent intermixing (contamination) when differentmedicines are loaded.

It is possible that the first rotor is able to be raised or lowered soas to move closer to and be separate from the second rotor. In thiscase, it is possible the first rotor be movable parallel to a secondaxis of the second rotor. Also, it is possible the first rotor bemovable parallel to a first axis of the first rotor. Further, it ispossible that the first rotor be moved along an arc. In this case, it ispreferable that the arc be provided in the plane formed by the firstaxis of the first rotor and the second axis of the second rotor.

It is preferable to provide a medicine detector for detecting a medicinetransported on the second rotor, and when a medicine transported on thesecond rotor is not detected by the medicine detector, the first rotoris raised so as to move closer to the second rotor until a medicinetransported on the second rotor is detected by the medicine detector.

It is also preferable that at a time of supply of medicine to the firstrotor, the first rotor is lowered so as to separate from the secondrotor.

The medicine counting device using this medicine feeding devicecomprises a medicine detector for detecting a medicine that isdischarged from the medicine discharge port; and a counting means forcounting number of medicines supplied based on a detection by themedicine detector.

This medicine counting device can reliably supply medicines of differentshape or size one by one from the medicine discharge port to theoutside, and reliably count that number with a medicine detection meansand a counting means. Accordingly, it is possible to reliably dispense apredetermined number of a medicine and prescribe it to patients.

In this medicine counting device, it is preferable to further provide aswitching valve unit comprising a medicine passage that is divided intoa first passage and a second passage, and a switching valve that is ableto switch a discharge destination of a medicine discharged from themedicine guiding section to either the first passage or the secondpassage.

It is preferable that the switching valve is provided with a first swingmember for opening and closing the first passage and a second swingmember for opening and closing the second passage,

wherein each swing member is provided with an elastic part that iselastically deformable, and

when both the first and the second passages are closed by each of theswing members, the elastic members will mutually contact and elasticallydeform, making it possible to hold a medicine in an upstream side, and

if the first passage is opened by the first swing member in this state,due to elastic reversion of an elastic part of the second swing member,it becomes possible to discharge a medicine to the first passage, or

if the second passage is opened by the second swing member, due toelastic reversion of an elastic part of the first swing member, itbecomes possible to discharge a medicine to the second passage.

In this way, if more than the predetermined number of a medicine isdispensed, by maintaining both the first passage and the second passagein a closed state with the respective swing members, the excess medicinecan be temporarily retained in its upstream side, and thus preventdispensing of excess medicine. By opening the first or second passage byoperation of the first or second swing member respectively, it ispossible to elastically restore the elastic part of the other second orfirst swing member, and force the retained medicine to the opened firstpassage or second passage. Therefore, mixing at the closed second orfirst passage can be reliably prevented.

It should be noted that the configuration of providing medicine passagesand switching valve is not limited to a medicine counting device, andcan be used in any medicine dispensing device where it is possible todispense required amount as per the medicine prescription data.

Effects of the Invention

In the medicine feeding device according to the present invention, themedicine moved by the second rotor will not be held back in the heightregulator or medicine guide section, and because it is a configurationwherein the medicine is made to drop on the first rotor by utilizing thestep between the first and second rotors, it is possible to reliablyprevent the occurrence of a jam. Because a mutual collision of a largenumber of medicines can also be prevented, it is possible to reliablyprevent the occurrence of chipping and cracking of the medicines.Moreover, in this medicine feeding device, if a medicine is of a heightthat can pass through between the second rotor and height regulator, andof a width that can pass through medicine guide section, even if theshape of the medicines is different, the medicines can be moved andsupplied without adjustment. Therefore, it is possible to increase theversatility of the supply of medicine.

Also, by providing a width regulator between the medicine guide sectionof the second rotor and height regulator for regulating the transportwidth of the medicine between the inner circumference of the secondrotor, because a medicine is made to be transported one by one to themedicine guide section, it is possible to prevent clogging at the inletof the medicine guide section. In case of a medicine that isnon-circular in a planar view, since the width regulator will be able toallow passage of the medicine having a specific width wherein thelongitudinal direction is extended along the medicine transportdirection, and the other medicine will be dropped on the first rotorfrom the inner circumference of the second rotor, it is possible toreliably prevent clogging at the inlet of the medicine guide section.

Thus, since a medicine counting device using the medicine feeding deviceof the present invention can reliably supply medicines of differentshapes or sizes one by one from medicine discharge port to outside andcount the quantity with a medicine detection means and a counting means,it becomes possible to reliably dispense predetermined number ofmedicine and prescribe to patients.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a medicine counting device usingthe medicine feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view of main unit in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a dismounted perspective view showing various rotors andvarious regulators.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the medicinefeeding device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the medicine feeding device viewed froma different direction.

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of themedicine feeding device.

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view showing a state after adjusting thepositions of various members of the medicine feeding device.

FIG. 7A is a plan view showing the configuration of the medicine feedingdevice.

FIG. 7B is a plan view showing a state after adjusting the position ofwidth regulator.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a switching valve unit of amedicine counting device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration of the medicine detection means todetect a medicine that was supplied, and (A) is a conceptual diagram and(B) is a perspective view.

FIG. 10A shows a front view of the state of dispensing to a medicinecontainer.

FIG. 10B shows a front view showing the completion of dispensing to themedicine container.

FIG. 10C is a front view of the state of recovery to recovery container.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the medicinecounting device.

FIG. 12 shows the state of supplying tablets as the medicine, and (A) isa plan view, and (B) is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 13 shows the state of supplying capsules as the medicine, and (A)is a plan view, and (B) is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 14A is a plan view showing an example of modification of medicinefeeding device.

FIG. 14B is a plan view showing another example of modification ofmedicine feeding device.

FIG. 15 shows an example of modification by providing ribs to the secondrotor, and (A) is a cross-sectional view of a second rotor having ribsof first modification example, (B) is a partial cross-sectional view ofa second rotor having ribs of second modification example, and (C) is apartial cross-sectional view of a second rotor having ribs of thirdmodification example.

FIG. 16 shows an example of modification in which the recovery unit isprovided with by a lid, and (A) is a side view with lid closed and (B)with lid released.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of an example of modification whereinthe first rotor is made larger than the second rotor.

FIG. 18 shows an example of modification by providing a monitoringplatform to the medicine counting device, and (A) is a perspective viewas seen obliquely from top, and (B) as seen obliquely from bottom.

FIG. 19 shows the images displayed in the monitor, and (A) is an imageof medicines dispensed into the medicine container as photographed bythe first camera, (B) is the image of the prescription data on the sidesurface of the medicine container as photographed by the second cameraand (C) is the photo image while a medicine is being dispensed asphotographed by the third camera.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the insideguide.

FIG. 21 is a partial cross-sectional frontal view of lifting movementmechanism of the first rotor.

FIG. 22 is a partial cross-sectional side view of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23(A) is a partly magnified cross-sectional view of partition wallat the bottom of the first rotor of lifting movement mechanism of FIG.21, and (B) is a cross-sectional view along the B-B line of (A).

FIG. 24 is a cross-sectional view of a sensor hole in the outer wallprovided on the second rotor of the lifting movement mechanism of firstrotor of FIG. 21.

FIG. 25 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of the liftingmovement mechanism of FIG. 21.

FIG. 26 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of thelifting movement mechanism of the first rotor.

FIG. 27 is a cross-sectional view showing another modified example ofthe lifting movement mechanism of the first rotor.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram of a medicine supply system.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing the operation of a host system 111 andcounter 110.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 29.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 30.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 31.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 32.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing the processing of a shortage.

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing the processing of solutions and boxes.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing the processing of manual count.

FIG. 37 shows a main menu screen of counter 110.

FIG. 38 shows the prescription scan standby screen.

FIG. 39 shows the count screen after receiving the prescription.

FIG. 40 shows a camera image capture screen.

FIG. 41 shows a count screen when the vial bottles are split.

FIG. 42 shows manual count screen.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

-   -   1 . . . Medicine container    -   2 . . . Recovery container    -   18 . . . Partition wall    -   23 . . . First rotor    -   24 . . . First shaft    -   28 . . . First drive motor (first drive means)    -   33 . . . Angle adjusting motor (angle adjustment means)    -   35 . . . Second rotor    -   35 a . . . Rib    -   36 . . . Inner circumference    -   37 . . . Transfer part    -   39 . . . Second drive motor (second drive means)    -   41 . . . Height regulator    -   49 . . . Height adjusting motor (height adjustment means)    -   51 . . . Medicine detecting sensor (first medicine detection        means)    -   52 . . . Width regulator    -   57 . . . Outer guide    -   63 . . . Width adjusting motor (width adjustment means)    -   65 . . . Medicine guide section    -   66 . . . Inner guide    -   68 . . . Inclined edge    -   69 . . . Inclined surface    -   70 . . . Detector (second medicine detection means)    -   71A-71D . . . Light emitting units    -   72A-72D . . . Light receiving units    -   73 . . . Medicine discharge member (medicine discharge port)    -   74 . . . Shutter    -   75 . . . Drive motor (discharge permitting/inhibiting means)    -   76 . . . Switching valve unit    -   77 . . . Medicine passage    -   78 . . . Dispensing unit (first passage)    -   79 . . . Recovery unit (second passage)    -   80A, 80B . . . Swing members (switching valve)    -   81 . . . Elastic part    -   82A, 82B . . . Drive motors (drive means)    -   83 . . . Central control unit (counting means)    -   86 . . . Bar code reader    -   87 . . . Memory    -   X, X1 . . . Tablets (medicines)    -   Y, Y1, Y2 . . . Capsules (medicines)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be describedbased on the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a medicine counting device using a medicine feeding deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. This medicinecounting device, by being provided with a medicine feeding device,switching valve unit 76 and a central control unit 83 that functions asa counting means, automatically adjusts the mechanism of the medicinefeeding device, supplies medicines of different shapes and sizes one byone, and counts.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the outer body 10 of the medicinecounting device is provided with an exterior body 11 located on theupper side, and a stand 16 located in the lower side. Exterior body 11is a casing that is closed on all sides and at top and bottom, and itsfront cover 12 bulges further in the front direction than frame 16. Inthe front cover 12, on the left hand side of the diagram, a containermounting section 13 has been provided for attaching a container 1 forhanding over to patient and a recovery container 2 for storingmedicines. A rotatable top cover 14 is provided on the rear side of theexterior body 11. Provided to this top cover 14 is a loading port 15 forexposing the inside of a frame body 17 (described later). Frame 16 isthe casing for upper end opening where the exterior body 11 is disposedat the top. This frame 16 is used, as needed, for disposing the exteriorbody 11 at a predetermined height such that containers 1 and 2 attachedto the exterior body 11 do not contact a shelf or the like that is amounting surface.

As shown in FIG. 3, the medicine feeding device is provided with asubstantially cylindrical frame 17, a disc-shaped first rotor 23, aring-shaped second rotor 35, a height regulator 41 to regulate theheight of the medicine that is supplied, a width regulator 52 toregulate the transport width of the second rotor 35, and a medicineguide section 65 comprised of an inner guide 66 and an outer guide 57.Thereupon, in this embodiment, the width regulator 52 and the outerguide 57 of the medicine guide section 65 are configured from a singleresin product.

The body frame 17, as shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, consists of apartition wall 18 covering the outer circumference of the first rotor23, and an outer wall 20 covering the outer circumference of the secondrotor 35. These are fixed at top and bottom respectively with respect tothe top plate of the exterior body 11. The partition wall 18 issubstantially cylindrical and extending from the inner circumference 36of the second rotor 35 to the outer circumference of the first rotor 23,and partitions the space between these. In one part on the lower side ofthe outer circumference of this partition wall 18 is provided with anotch 19 for preventing interference from a rotary bracket 30 that isused for securing the first drive motor 28 of the first rotor 23. Theouter wall 20 is cylindrical intended for preventing falling off ofmedicine on the second rotor 35. In this outer wall 20, a first notch 21is provided in one part on the upper side of the outer circumference anda second notch 22 is provided in one part on the lower side of the outercircumference. The first notch 21 is intended for exposing the secondrotor 35 as well as to dispose the width regulator 52 and the medicineguide section 65. The second notch 22 is intended for laterally exposingthe gear member 38 of the second rotor 35. Moreover, frame 17, outerwall 18 and the partition wall 20 may also be formed as an integralunit.

The first rotor 23 is of disk shape, and is disposed inclined in thispartition wall 18 so as to seal the bottom of the partition wall 18.That is, as shown in FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, the first shaft 24 of thefirst rotor 23 is arranged so as to incline at a predetermined anglewith respect to the vertical direction. On the upper surface of thisfirst rotor 23 is provided with a plurality of convex portions 25 in aradial pattern to function as resistance for moving the medicine(rolling suppression). Provided in the outer circumference of the firstrotor 23 is a slope section 26 inclining downwards in a radially outwarddirection. This slope section 26 is disposed with a predetermined angleof inclination such that the inner circumference edge at the top end islocated in the upstream of the second rotor 35, and outer circumferenceedge at the lower end is located in the downstream of the innercircumference edge.

A gear 27 coupled to the lower end of the first shaft 24 is provided tothis first rotor 23. Accordingly, this gear 27 is configured to meshwith a gear 29 connected to the output shaft of the first drive motor 28which is the first drive means, so that it can rotate around the firstshaft 24. The first shaft 24 and first drive motor 28 are attached tothe rotary bracket 30. A bearing for the guide (not shown) is disposedon the side of this rotary bracket 30, and this bearing is engaged withthe guide groove of a mounting bracket 31 that is fixed to the exteriorbody 11. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, an arc-shaped gear strip 32 isfixed on the side of the rotary bracket 30. Engaged to this gear strip32 is the gear 34 of an angle adjusting motor 33 which is an angleadjusting means. By operating this angle adjusting motor 33, the rotarybracket 30 can be rotated against the mounting bracket 31. When therotary bracket 30 is rotated, the first rotor 23 rotates together withthe first drive motor 28, and the angle of inclination of the firstrotor 23 can be adjusted. This adjustment of the angle of inclination isconfigured to take place with the upper end of the first rotor 23 as thesupporting point.

The second rotor 35 is in the form of a ring positioned above the firstrotor 23, and disposed so as to be able to rotate at the upper end ofthe partition wall 18. As shown in FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, the second rotor35 is horizontally disposed such that the second shaft (not illustrated)can extend in a vertical direction. With this, the second shaft of thesecond rotor 35 extends by intersecting in a direction that is differentfrom that of the first shaft 24 of the first rotor 23 (a direction thatis neither parallel nor identical). The angle between these shafts canbe varied relatively by the operation of the angle adjusting motor 33described above. In addition, the second rotor 35, when viewed from theaxial direction of the second shaft, is located outside of the firstrotor 23, and the first rotor 23 is positioned within the innercircumference 36. As for the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor35 and the outer circumference of the first rotor 23, due to theinclination of the first rotor 23, the outer circumference of the firstrotor 23 becomes lower than the inner circumference 36 of the secondrotor 35, and a step of predetermined height is formed in that gap. Asfor this step, due to the inclination of the first rotor 23, the portionlocated at the bottom edge in the vertical direction that is on the leftside of the drawing is largest, and the portion located at the upperedge in the vertical direction that is on the right side of the drawingis the smallest. Accordingly, the portion with smallest step, with therotation of the first rotor 23, constitutes the movement section 37where a medicine that is supplied to the receiving space demarcated bythe first rotor 23 and the partition wall 18 will be transferred to thesecond rotor 35 from the first rotor 23. The movement section 37 of thisembodiment is configured in such a way wherein the inner circumference36 of the second rotor 35 opens a gap with the outer circumference ofthe first rotor 23 to such an extent that a medicine will not be lost,and is positioned at substantially the same height. However, as forsetting the height of the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35and outer circumference of the first rotor 23 in the movement section37, as long as it is possible for a medicine to transfer from the firstrotor 23 to the second rotor 35, the inner circumference 36 of thesecond rotor 35 may be located either above or below the outercircumference of the first rotor 23.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, a gear member 38 in the form of a ring isfixed to the underside of this second rotor 35. This gear member 38 isengaged with the gear 40 of the second drive motor 39, which is thesecond drive means, through the second notch 22 of the outer wall 20.The outer circumference of the gear member 38 is supported by a supportmember, which is not shown. With this, the upper rotating member isrotated around the second axis without having to move along the secondaxis.

The height regulator 41 is disposed so as to be positioned on thedownstream of rotation (medicine transfer) direction with respect to themovement section 37 of the second rotor 35. The height regulator 41consists of a height regulating member 42, an erection member 44 and anoperation receiving member 45. As shown in FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, theheight regulating member 42 is disposed so as to be positioned above thesecond rotor 35. This height regulating member 42 is provided with aguide surface 43 that extends from the outer circumference of the secondrotor 35 to the inner circumference 36 and that is also inclined at apredetermined angle along the direction of medicine transport. Theerection member 44 is intended to couple with the height regulatingmember 42 and to dispose this height regulating member 42 on the secondrotor 35 striding over the width regulator 52. The operation receivingmember 45 is intended to couple with the erection member 44 and toreceive power via this erection member 44 for vertically moving theheight regulating member 42. This operation receiving member 45 isprovided with a screw hole 46 for receiving the power in a manner suchthat it penetrates in the vertical direction.

A screw member 47 has been inserted through the screw hole 46 of theheight regulator 41. This screw member 47 is supported by the bracketfixed to the top plate of exterior body 11 such that it can rotate butcannot move along the axial direction. Further, gear 48 is coupled tothe lower end of the screw member 47. This gear 48 is engaged with thegear 50 of the height adjusting motor 49, which is a height adjustingmeans. The screw member 47 is rotated by operating the height adjustingmotor 49, and the height of the gap between the height regulator 41 andthe top surface of the second rotor 35 is adjusted such that a gap thatis approximately equal to the medicine height is provided. Disposed inthe downstream side of the height regulator 41 is a medicine detectionsensor 51 as the first medicine detection means for detecting themedicine that has passed the lower part of this height regulator 41.

The width regulator 52 is disposed on the second rotor 35 so as to bepositioned further downstream of the height regulator 41 in the medicinetransport direction. This width regulator 52 is provided with arectangular section 53 extending in a tangential direction with respectto the outer circumference of the second rotor 35. This rectangularsection 53 is disposed so as to circumvent the erection member 44 of theheight regulator 41, and to be able to directly move without interferingwith this erection member 44. The width regulator 52 is coupled to awidth regulating section 54 in the downstream of the medicine transportdirection of the rectangular section 53. This width regulating section54 is provided with a first curved section 55 having a diameter largerthan that of the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35. Withthis, the gap with the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35 isconfigured such that the transport width in only part of the radialdirection becomes narrowest. Here, the transport width refers to a width(area) between the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35 and thefirst curved section 55 where a medicine can pass through. Further, thewidth regulator 54 is provided with a second curved section 56 that isconnected such that the transport width in the downstream of medicinetransport direction of the first curved section 55 becomes graduallywider. And, the width regulator 52 is connected to an outer guide 57that constitutes the medicine guide section 65 in the downstream of themedicine transport direction of the width regulating section 54. Thisouter guide, in addition to extending tangentially with respect to thesecond curved section 56, is configured so as to extend orthogonallywith respect to the rectangular section 53.

Connected to the width regulating section 54 of this width regulator 52is a coupling member 58 extending to the rectangular section 53 in aparallel fashion. An operation receiving member 59 is connected to thiscoupling member 58 similarly to the height regulator 41. A screw member61 is inserted through the screw hole 60 of the operation receivingmember 59, and this screw member 61 is supported by the bracket fixed tothe top plate of exterior body 11 such that it can rotate but cannotmove along the axial direction. Also, gear 62 is coupled to the outerend of the screw member 47, and this gear 62 is engaged with a gear 64of the width adjusting motor 63, which is a width adjusting means formoving the width regulator 52 in horizontal direction. When the widthregulator 52 is moved outside of the second rotor 35 by the widthadjusting motor 63, the transport width between the width regulatingsection 54 and the inner circumference of the second rotor 35, and alsothe gap between the outer guide 57 and the inner guide (described later)66, can be widened. If moved inside with respect to the second rotor 35,it becomes possible to narrow the transport width of the second rotor35, and also the gap between each guide 57 and 66. Thereupon, in thisembodiment, the diameter of the first curved surface portion 55 of thewidth regulating section 54 (radius of curvature) is set such that thewidth of the gap between the outer guide 57 and inner guide 66 will beapproximately double (2W) the transport width W between the innercircumference 36 of the second rotor 35. Accordingly, in thisembodiment, the transport width W is configured to be ½ of the width ofthe medicine being transported. It should be noted that, in case of amedicine having an oval shape in a planar view or elliptical shape in aplanar view, the medicine width refers to the short side direction.Further, it is preferable that the transport width W is not limited to ½the width of the medicine, and is greater than ½ the width of themedicine and smaller than the width of the medicine.

The medicine guide section 65 is intended for guiding a medicine passingthrough the width regulation section 54 of the width regulator 52 to themedicine discharge member 73 (described later) that is the medicinedischarge port. This medicine guide section 65, shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 7Aand FIG. 7B, is disposed on the second rotor 35 so as to be locatedfurther downstream in the medicine transport direction than the widthregulating section 54 of the width regulator 52. The inner guide 66 ofthe medicine guide section 65 is disposed such that, in addition tobeing parallel to the outer guide 57 in the radially inward direction ofthe second rotor 35, it also extends in the tangential direction withrespect to the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35. The innerguide 66 extends towards the medicine discharge member 73, and its endis provided with a bracket section 67 that is fixed to the top plate ofthe exterior body 11. The gap between the guides 57 and 66 of thismedicine guide section 65 is adjusted so as to be approximately same asthe medicine width by driving the width adjusting motor 63. Also, aninclined edge 68 inclining upwards at a predetermined angle is providedto the inner guide 66 at the inner end located in the innercircumference 36 of the second rotor 35 above the step between the firstrotor 23 and second rotor 35. The inner surface side of this inclinededge 68 is made as the inclining surface 69 that inclines with adownward slope.

As shown in FIG. 8, in the medicine counting device, at the bottom ofthe medicine discharge member 73 provided at the outlet of the medicineguide section 65, a detector 70 for detecting medicines, a shutter 74that determines whether the medicine is going to be discharged to thisdetector 70 or not, and a switching valve unit 76 for distributing themedicine that has passed through the detector 70 are provided. Themedicine discharge member 73 constitutes the medicine discharge portthat will be provided in the radially outward direction of the secondrotor 35 and guides the medicine discharged from the medicine guidesection 65 to the medicine detector 70.

The detector 70, which is the second medicine detection means, as shownin FIG. 9(A) and FIG. 9(B), is composed of a pair of square-tubularshaped casings 70A and 70B. The upper casing 70A is provided with a pairof light emitting units 71A and 71B on adjacent sides, and the oppositesides are provided with a pair of light receiving units 72A and 72B. Thelower casing 70B is provided with a pair of light emitting units 71C and71D on adjacent sides, and the opposite sides are provided with a pairof light receiving units 72C and 72D. The pairs of light emitting unit71A and light receiving unit 72A, light emitting unit 71B and lightreceiving unit 72B, light emitting unit 71C and light receiving unit72C, and light emitting unit 71D and light receiving unit 72D, that areon opposite sides, each constitute one set of optical sensor (linesensor). In this way, the respective two pairs (total of 4 pairs) ofoptical sensors, which are disposed on the two casings 70A and 70B, arelocated in the axial direction with a predetermined gap. Further, it ispossible to vary the detection direction by mutually disposing eachcasing 70A and 70B at a phase angle of 45 degree. Miniaturization in aplanar shape (occupied area) can be achieved for the detector 70configured in this way as compared to the use of an octagonal casingwherein all 4 pairs of optical sensors can be disposed.

As shown in FIG. 8, the shutter 74 is disposed inside the outlet side ofthe medicine discharge member 73. This shutter 74 can be rotated betweenthe horizontally-extended discharge-stop position and thedownward-inclined discharge-permit position by drive motor 75, which isa discharge permit/stop means. In the discharge-stop position, theoutlet of the medicine discharge member 73 is closed to preventdischarge of the medicine into the detector 70. In the discharge-permitposition, the outlet of the medicine discharge member 73 is opened toallow discharge of the medicine into the detector 70.

The switching valve unit 76 is disposed below the detector 70 so as tobe positioned on the container mounting section 13 of the exterior body11. Provided in the casing of this switching valve unit 76 is aninverted Y-shaped medicine passage 77 branching into a dispensingsection 78, which is the first passage, and a recovery section 79, whichis the second passage. The end of the dispensing section 78 and recoverysection 79 are provided with stepped sections 78 a and 79 a forattaching medicine container 1 and recovery container 2. Of this, thestepped section 78 a of the dispensing section 78 located on the leftside in the diagram is provided with 3 sets for attaching 3 types ofmedicine containers 1 of different diameters (capacity). In the medicinepassage 77, a switching valve is provided for switching the dischargedestination to either the dispensing section 78 or the recovery section79. The switching valve of the present embodiment is comprised of a pairof swing members 80A and 80B disposed so as to extend from the entranceof the medicine passage 77 towards discharge section 78 and recoverysection 79. The first swing member 80A on the left side in the diagramopens and closes the dispensing section 78, whereas the second swingmember 80B on the right side in the diagram opens and closes therecovery section 79. An elastically deformable elastic part 81 isprovided to each of these swing members 80A and 80B on mutually oppositefaces. Also, each swing member 80A and 80B is swung on an individualbasis by the respective drive motors 82A and 82B which are the drivingmeans. In this embodiment, it is possible to change to 3 positions,namely, the medicine dispensing position (first operation position)shown in FIG. 10A, the pause position (second operation position) shownin FIG. 10B and the medicine recovery position (third operationposition) shown in FIG. 10C. Of these, in the pause position, each swingmember 80A and 80B is rotated by an angle such that the elastic parts 81and 81 will mutually contact and deform elastically. Further, the swingmembers 80A and 80B can also be formed of an elastically deformablematerial.

The medicine counting device consisting of a medicine feeding device, asshown in FIG. 11, functions by the command from a central control unit83, and counts and supplies required number of medicines according tothe prescription data.

As shown in FIG. 18, the medicine counting device is provided with amonitoring platform. The monitoring platform is provided with a monitor88, a first camera 89A for photographing the medicines inside themedicine container 1 from the upper side of the opening of the medicinecontainer into which the medicine was dispensed, and a second camera 89b for photographing the label on the side of the medicine container 1.The monitor 88 displays images photographed with the first camera 89 a,the second camera 89 b, and a third camera 89 c that is provided in thevicinity of the medicine loading port of the medicine counting deviceand that photographs the circumference of the movement section 37 fromthe first rotor 23 to second rotor 35 or the circumference of the heightregulator 41 Further, the first camera 89 a may also be made movable,and the function of the first camera 89 a can be combined with that ofthe third camera 89 c to eliminate the third camera.

Before charging a medicine, an operator will read the medicine type ID(bar code), which is printed on the medicine bottle, with a bar codereader 86, and only if this medicine is a correct medicine wherein thismedicine type ID is consistent with the medicine shown in theprescription data, a charging of the medicine is allowed. With this, itis possible to prevent the dispensing of a wrong medicine. Next, theoperator reads the prescription ID (bar code) printed on a medicinecontainer 1 that is going to receive the medicine and will allow thedispensing of the medicine only when this prescription ID is consistentwith the prescription ID shown in the prescription data. With this, itis possible to prevent the mistake in taking the medicine container 1.

Next, the operator will adjust the angle of inclination of the firstrotor 23 by manipulating the operating panel 84, loads the medicine inthe space for loading medicine that is partitioned by the first rotor 23and partition wall 18, enter the quantity of the medicine to beprescribed, and starts the counting process. In the counting process,after the central control unit 83 performs automatic adjustment of eachof the regulators 41 and 52 (auto calibration) depending on themedicine, a counting process for actually counting is executed. In thiscounting process, the central control unit 83 performs the role as acounting means for counting the medicine supplied based on the detectionby the detector 70.

The process of angle adjustment of the first rotor 23 is carried outbased on the quantity and size or shape of the medicine that is going tobe loaded. That is, if the quantity of the medicine being loaded islarge, the angle of inclination of the first rotor 23 is made steep(close to vertical) so that the accommodating space formed between thepartition wall 18 and first rotor 23 and second rotor 35 becomes wider.In case of a spherical medicine that rolls (rotates) on the uppersurface and that does move onto the second rotor 35 even when the firstrotor 23 is revolved, the angle of inclination of the first rotor 23 ismade moderate (close to horizontal). With this, adjustment is performedso that a large amount of the medicine can be placed on the first rotor23, and the medicine can move to the second rotor 35. Also, this processof angle adjustment may also be configured to be an automatic adjustmentby disposing a medicine detection means on the movement section 37 ofthe second rotor 35 or the like. In this case, such process of angleadjustment is carried out in the first stage of the automatic adjustmentprocess.

In the automatic adjustment process of counting process, the heightregulator 41 is lowered and the width regulator 52 is moved inwards. Inthis way, it is made such that the medicine will not be discharged evenwhen each of the rotors 23 and 35 is rotated. In this state, as shown inFIG. 10A, the swing members 80A and 80B of the switching valve unit 76are revolved towards the dispensing section 78, the dispensing section78 is opened while the recovery section 79 is closed, and each of therotors 23 and 35 is rotated. Then, the height regulator 41 is slowlymoved upwards. When a medicine passed through the height regulator 41 isdetected by the medicine detection sensor 51, the movement of the heightregulator 41 is stopped. Next, the width regulator 52 is moved radiallyoutward so as to slowly widen. Then, when the discharge of a medicine isdetected by the detector 70, the movement of the width regulator 52 isstopped.

It is preferable to memorize the positions of the height regulator 41and width regulator 52 beforehand for each medicine.

For this purpose, the bar code of the medicine bottle containing themedicine to be counted is first read by a bar code reader 86 provided inthe medicine counting device. Also, when the medicine detecting sensor51, which is provided in the downstream of the height regulator 41,detects the medicine passing through the height regulator 41, thestipulated height (or position) of the height regulator 41 at this timeis stored in the memory 87. At the same time, the medicine in thevicinity of the height regulator 41 is photographed by the third camera89 c. Further, when a sensor or the detector 70 provided in thedownstream of the width regulator 52 detects the medicine passingthrough the width regulator 52, the transport width (or position) of thewidth regulator 52 at this time is stored in the memory 87. In thememory 87, the stipulated height of the height regulator 41, and thetransport width of the width regulator 52 are linked to the medicineread by the bar code reader and stored. The stored information of thestipulated height and transport width may be displayed on the monitor 88for the operator to check, fine-tuned as needed, and overwritten withthe stipulated height and transport width after fine-tuning. With this,next time, before supplying a medicine to the first rotor 23, the ID(bar code) of the medicine printed on the medicine bottle is read withthe bar code reader 88, and in case the stipulated height of the heightregulator 41 and the transport width of the width regulator 52associated with the medicine matching this ID is already stored, it ispossible to immediately adjust to those values, and to initiate thecounting of the medicine. In case the stipulated height of the heightregulator 41 and the transport width of the width regulator 52associated with the medicine have not been stored, such as when usingnew medicines, their stipulated height and the phase width are obtainedas described above.

In the counting step of the counting process, the rotational speeds ofeach of the rotors 23 and 35 are accelerated by the automatic adjustmentprocess, and made to count at a high speed. When the quantity ofmedicine dispensed approaches the set quantity of the medicine, rotationnumber of the second rotor 35 is reduced. With this, the speed ofdischarge from the medicine guide section 65 is slowed down. When thedispensing of the set amount of medicine is counted, as shown in FIG.10B, the swing member 80A positioned on the side of the dispensingsection 78 is rotated to the side of the recovery unit 79, and both thedispensing section 78 and recovery section 79 are closed. In this pauseposition, each elastic part 81 and 81 is deformed elastically on mutualcontact, and becomes in a pressure-contacted state. In this state, thedispensed medicine is temporarily held in the upstream side of the pairof swing members 80A and 80B. Next, as shown in FIG. 10C, the swingmember 80B located in the recovery section 79 is rotated to the swingsection side to open the side of the recovery section 79. With this, themedicine that was temporarily held in the upstream of the pair of swingmembers 80A and 80B is flipped towards the recovery section 79 due toelastic restoration of the elastic part 81 on the dispensing section 78side. Therefore, dispensing of excess medicine to the dispensing section78 is reliably prevented. Finally, the rotational speed of the rotors 23and 35 are increased, and all of the medicine in the frame 17 isdischarged to the recovery container 2.

The counting by the central control unit 83 takes place based on theinput signal from 4 pairs of optical sensor groups (8 pieces per group)of the detector 70. The detector 70 of this embodiment detects amedicine falling under its own weight due to discharge (at constantspeed) with each line sensor 71A, 72A to 71D and 72D from four differentdirections. As a result, based on the input value from the lightreceiving units 72A to 72D, it is possible to determine the volumeincluding the shape such as width and height of the medicine that haspassed through. More specifically, based on inputs from various lightreceiving elements of various light receiving units 72A to 72D, thewidth of a medicine is determined from four different directions.Because the heights of the light receiving units 72A and 72B of theupper casing 70A and the light receiving units 72C and 72D of the lowercasing 70B are different in the vertical direction, based on the widthdetermined by each of the light receiving units 72A to 72D by having thedetection time difference due to falling into consideration, it becomespossible to accurately determine the horizontal cross-sectional shape ofthe medicine that is falling. By repeating the determination atpredetermined time intervals, the horizontal cross-sectional shape of apredetermined time interval can be determined with time. Then, based onall of the horizontal cross-sectional shapes for each of the timeintervals, the volume of the medicine including shape (3D) of thefalling medicine can be determined. In addition, the informationrelating to all medicines of different shapes and sizes are stored inthe central control unit 83. Therefore, this medicine information iscompared with the determined shape and volume, and the type of themedicine that is being counted is decided (confirmed). Based on thisconfirmed medicine information, the quantity of the medicine that wasdispensed is counted. As a result, it is possible to even detect when 2or more medicines pass together. Thus, a counting with high accuracy canbe achieved.

When dispensing of the medicine is finished, the opening of the medicinecontainer 1 is placed facing the first camera of the monitoring platformshown in FIG. 18 and the medicine dispensed inside the medicinecontainer 1 is photographed as shown in FIG. 19 (A). Next, the label onthe side surface of the medicine container 1 is placed facing the secondcamera 89 b and the prescription data is photographed as shown in FIG.19(B). Next, the photographed image of FIG. 19(A), the photographedimage of FIG. 19(B), and the photographed image of medicine during theprocess of dispensing captured by the third camera as shown FIG. 19(C)are simultaneously displayed on the monitor 88, and whether the medicineas per the prescription data is being dispensed or not is monitored.

Next, the medicine transport operation of a disk-shaped tablet X, whichis one type of a medicine, by the medicine feeding device is explainedin detail. The transport operation of this disk-shaped tablet X issimilar even for spherical shaped medicines.

As shown in FIG. 12(A) and FIG. 12(B), when the first rotor 23 isrotated, the tablet X rotates on the upper surface, and it moves in theradial direction due to centrifugal force. The tablet X on the firstrotor 23 moves in the transport section 37 that is positioned atapproximately the same height as that of the second rotor 35, and istransferred onto the second rotor 35.

The tablet X that was transferred onto the second rotor 35 is moved tothe side of the medicine guide section 65, and movement to furtherdownstream is regulated by the height regulator 41. For example, thetablet X that is moving in a vertically stacked state, when the tablet Xat the upper side comes in contact with the guide surface 43 of theheight regulator 41, will be dropped onto the second rotor 35, or fromthe inner circumference 36 on to the first rotor 23.

The tablet X that has passed through the height regulator 41 comes intocontact with the first curved section 55 of the width regulator 52,which regulates the transport width, and is moved to the innercircumference 36 side of the second rotor 35. Because the transportwidth of the second rotor 35 is ½ of the medicine width because of thefirst curved section 55 of the width regulator 52, only a tablet Xcoming in contact with the width regulator 52 will be able to move todownstream of the width regulator 52. In other words, when tablet X isbeing transported aligned radially in 2 lines, the tablet X in the innerside is pressed by the outside tablet X that is in contact with thewidth regulator 52, and is dropped from the inner circumference 36 ofthe second rotor 35 onto the first rotor 23. Even if the tablets X arenot aligned in the radial direction, a tablet X, whose center of gravityis located inside of the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35,will also drop onto the first rotor 23 from the inner circumference 36.Therefore, other tablets X that are not in contact with the widthregulator 52 are not transferred to downstream.

A tablet X that has passed through the first curved section 55 of thewidth regulator 52 is transferred in a steady state through the secondcurved section 56 where the transport width is larger. Then, it istransported between the inner guide 66 and the outer guide 57 of themedicine guide section 65, moved to the outlet side in a state of beingaligned one by one, and discharged to the detector 70. At this time, atablet X1 that protrudes inward from the inner circumference 36 of thesecond rotor 35 comes in contact with an end of the inner guide 66, andis either guided to the space between the outer guide 57, or droppedonto the first rotor 23 from the inner circumference 36. Only tablets Xthat have passed through the medicine guide section 65 are supplied tothe detector 70 via the medicine discharge member 73 that is themedicine discharge port.

Next, the medicine transport operation of capsule medicine Y thatdiffers from a disk-shaped tablet X in shape and size will be describedin detail. Moreover, the transport operation of the capsule Y is similareven for tablets of non-circular shape such as elliptical shape.

As shown in FIG. 13(A) and FIG. 13(B), when the first rotor 23 isrotated, the capsule Y rotates on the upper surface, and it moves in theradial direction due to centrifugal force. The capsule Y on the firstrotor 23 moves in the transport section 37 that is positioned atapproximately the same height as that of the second rotor 35, and istransferred on to the second rotor 35.

A capsule Y that was transferred onto the second rotor 35 is moved tothe side of the medicine guide section 65, and movement to furtherdownstream is regulated by the height regulator 41, and the capsule Ythat is moving in a vertically stacked state will be dropped onto thesecond rotor 35, or from the inner circumference 36 onto the first rotor23.

A capsule Y that has passed through the height regulator 41 comes tocontact with the first curved section 55 of the width regulator 52,which regulates the transport width, will be moved to the innercircumference 36 side of the second rotor 35, and corrected such thatthe directivity (posture) of the longitudinal direction extends alongthe medicine transport direction. Only a capsule Y that contacts thewidth regulator 52 will pass to the downstream of the width regulator52, whereas a capsule Y that is not in contact with the width regulator52 is dropped from the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35 onto the first rotor 23. A capsule Y1 whose posture could not be correctedby being in contact with the first curved section 55 will be droppedfrom the inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35 onto the firstrotor 23 because the transport width due to the second rotor 35 isapproximately ½ of the capsule Y1, and balance cannot be maintainedbecause the center of gravity is located inside of the innercircumference 36 of the second rotor 35.

A capsule Y that has passed through the first curved section 55 of thewidth regulator 52 is transferred in a steady state through the secondcurved section 56 where transport width is larger. Then, it istransported between the inner guide 66 and the outer guide 57 of themedicine guide section 65, moved to the outlet side in a state of beingaligned one by one, and discharged to the detector 70. At this time, acapsule Y2 whose posture could not be completely corrected comes incontact with an end of the inner guide 66, and either will have itsposture corrected and guided to the space between the outer guide 57, ordropped onto the first rotor 23 from the inner circumference 36. Only acapsule Y that has passed through the medicine guide section 65 issupplied to the detector 70 via the medicine discharge member 73 that isthe medicine discharge port.

Because the capsule Y is not flat unlike the disk-shaped tablet X,rotation is easy when moving on the second rotor 35 by point contact orlinear contact with the second rotor 35. Therefore, a tablet that is notflat like the capsule Y may change its orientation on the second rotor35 and may be dropped onto the first rotor 23 after passing through thewidth regulator 52 and before reaching the tablet guiding section 65. Asshown in FIGS. 15 (A) through (C), it is preferable that the innercircumferential edge on the second rotor 35 be provided with aring-shaped vertically protruding rib 35 a. As shown in FIG. 15(A), rib35 a may have a triangular-shaped radial cross-section where the innercircumferential surface is flush-mounted with the inner circumferentialsurface of the second rotor 35, upper end is tapered and the outercircumferential surface is inclined in a straight line; or as shown inFIG. 15(B), the outer circumferential surface is curved with a recessand inclined; or as shown in FIG. 15(C), a rectangular-shaped radialcross-section made of an inner circumferential surface flush-mountedwith the inner circumferential surface of the second rotor 35, a flatupper end, and a vertical outer circumferential surface As shown in FIG.15(A), by providing ribs like 35 a, because a tablet that is not flatwill contact at 2 points, namely the upper surface of the second rotor35 and rib 35 a, it will become difficult for the tablet to rotate onthe second rotor 35, and is prevented from falling onto the first rotor23.

In this way, in the medicine feeding device of the present invention,because medicine can be supplied to the medicine guide section 65 bylining up one by one with the help of the height regulator 41 and thewidth regulator 52, the medicine can be reliably passed one by onethrough the medicine guide section 65 and supplied to outside from themedicine discharge member 73 without causing a problem of occurrence ofclogging and the like. Further, because of the configuration wherein amedicine, when transported in large numbers, is dropped onto the firstrotor 23 rather than holding back at each of the regulators 41 and 52and medicine guide section 65, it is possible to reliably preventoccurrence of clogging at the regulators 41 and 52, and to preventmutual collision of a large number of the medicine. Thus, occurrence ofchipping of a medicine can be reliably prevented. In particular, withthe transport width of the second rotor 35 being regulated to ½ of themedicine width by the width regulator 52, a medicine of non-circular ina planar view cannot pass through unless it is in a state wherein thelongitudinal direction is extended along the medicine transportdirection. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent occurrence ofclogging at the inlet of the medicine guide section 65.

Also, because of the configuration which makes it possible to adjust thestipulated height by the height regulator 41 and the transport width ofthe second rotor 35 by the width regulator 52, supply of a large varietyof medicines of different shapes and sizes can be achieved. Also, sincethe width regulator 52 and the outer guide 57 of the medicine guidesection 65 are integrally provided and these can be adjusted at the sametime, it is possible to improve the workability of adjustment, and alsoto reduce the number of parts. Moreover, in this embodiment, because ofa configuration in which the regulators 41 and 52 can be adjustedautomatically, an operator does not need to make any adjustment, andconvenience in use can be significantly improved.

Further, since the inner guide 66 of the medicine guide section 65 isprovided with a inclining edge 68 inclining upward, a medicine that istransferred in a state of protruding inward from the inner circumference36 of the second rotor 35 can be reliably prevented from clogging at theentrance of the medicine guide section 65. This configuration isparticularly effective because, when a medicine of non-circular in aplanar view is transported in a slightly tilted state, it is possible tocorrect the posture or drop onto the first rotor 23. Furthermore,because the angle of inclination of the first shaft 24 of the firstrotor 23 is adjustable, it is possible to reliably transport themedicine to the transfer section by the rotation of the first rotor 23,and to transfer it onto the second rotor 35.

Further, the medicine counting device using the medicine feeding devicewill be able to reliably discharge medicines of different shapes andsizes one by one to the outside, detect the medicine by the detector 70,and reliably count with the central control unit 83. Accordingly, it ispossible to reliably dispense a predetermined number of a medicine andprescribe to patients. Because the switching valve unit 76 provided tothe container mounting section 13 is provided with a dispensing section78 for attaching a medicine container 1 that is handed over to patientand a recovery section 79 for attaching a recovery container 2, it ispossible to improve the workability related to prescription. Moreover,because the swing members 80A and 80B that are switching valves areoperated so as to temporarily shut both the dispensing section 78 andrecovery section 79 once the prescribed number of medicine is counted,dispensing of a medicine exceeding the predetermined quantity to themedicine container 1 can be prevented. When setting the recoveryposition later to the recovery container 2, because the medicineretained in the upstream of the pair of swing members 80A and 80B can bewithdrawn to the recovery section 79 by elastically restoring theelastic part 81, dispensing of excess medicine passing through thedispensing section to the medicine container 1 can be reliablyprevented.

By providing the third camera 89 c to the device body along with theheight regulator 41, movement of the height regulator 41 can beprevented. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 18(A), it is preferable toprovide the third camera to the lid rather than to the device body.Similarly, by disposing the height regulator 41 to the lid rather thanthe device body, it is possible to prevent damage due to collisionbetween the height regulator 41 and width regulator 52 when the heightregulator 41 is moved radially outwards of the second rotor 35 with theintention of cleaning the first rotor 23 and the second rotor 35.

Other Embodiments

Moreover, the medicine counting device of the present invention is notlimited to the configuration of the embodiment described above, andvarious modifications are possible. In particular, it is possible tovariously modify the medicine feeding device.

For example, in the embodiment, adjustment of the stipulated height onthe second rotor 35 was made possible by the height regulator 41, andadjustment of transport width of the second rotor 35 was made possibleby the width regulator 52, however, they may also be made as anon-adjustable, fixed type. Even in this case, when the medicine is of aheight that can pass through the space between the second rotor 35 andheight regulator 41 and a width that can pass through the transportwidth of the second rotor 35 specified by the width regulator 52,medicines of different shapes and sizes can be transported and supplied.Therefore, it is possible to increase the versatility of the supply ofmedicine.

In the embodiment described above, it was made possible to change thetransport width of the second rotor 35 by the width regulator 52,however, a configuration without width regulator 52 is also possible.Even in this case, when the medicine is of circular shape in a planarview, and the medicine is of spherical or disc-like shape, medicines ofdifferent shapes and sizes can be transported and supplied. It should benoted that, in this case, the medicine passing through the heightregulator 41 is aligned in two lines in the radial direction andsupplied to the entrance of the medicine guide section 65. However,because the pair of guides 57 and 66 of the medicine guide section 65have a gap approximately same as the width of the medicine, a medicinethat is located on the side of the inner circumference 36 of the secondrotor 35 will come in contact with the inner guide 66 and dropped fromthe inner circumference 36 of the second rotor 35 onto the first rotor23. Therefore, it becomes possible to prevent clogging of the medicineat the inlet of the medicine guide section 65, and to reliably dispatchone by one to outside.

Also, adjustment of the height regulator 41 was made possible bydirectly moving in a vertical direction, and adjustment of the widthregulator 52 was made possible by directly moving in the horizontaldirection, however, as shown in FIG. 14A, it is also possible to make itadjustable through rotation. Moreover, although the width regulator 52was provided integrally with the outer guide 57 of the medicine guidesection 65, it is also possible provide it separately to facilitateadjustment as shown in FIG. 14B. In this case, the width regulator 52without the outer guide 57 may be constituted from an elasticallydeformable material, and may be configured to adjust the transport widththrough partial movement.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, although a configurationwas provided wherein the first rotor 23 was disposed inclining at apredetermined angle and the second rotor 35 was disposed horizontally, aconfiguration is also possible wherein the first rotor 23 is disposedhorizontally and the second rotor 35 is disposed inclining at apredetermined angle. Of course, a configuration is also possible whereinboth the first rotor 23 and the second rotor 35 are inclined at apredetermined angle. That is, it can be of a configuration wherein therotational axes of the first rotor 23 and the second rotor 35 intersectat an angle so as to facilitate movement of medicine.

In the embodiment described above, although the first rotor 23 and thesecond rotor 35 were configured to rotate in the same direction, it isalso possible to configure so as to rotate in mutually oppositedirections. In the embodiment described above, although a configurationwas provided wherein the partition wall 18 was of a fixed structureimpossible to rotate, it may also be configured to be rotatable. In thiscase, the partition wall 18 may also rotate integrally with the secondrotor 35, or to independently rotate coaxially. Furthermore, in theembodiment described above, although the inner guide 66 of the medicineguide section 65 was disposed at the edge of inner circumference 36 ofthe second rotor 35, it is also possible to dispose it so as to positionradially outward from the inner circumference 36 as long as it is at aposition where a medicine whose center of gravity is shifted can bedropped from the inner circumference 36 onto the first rotor 23.

In the embodiment described above, although first rotor 23 and secondrotor 35 were fixed in an axial direction, and the heights of firstrotor 23 and second rotor 35 were made approximately same in themovement section 37 where the medicine moves from the first rotor 23 tothe second rotor 35, it is also possible to move the first rotor 23 inthe axial direction, and to make it possible to adjust the extent oftransfer of the medicine. If the quantity of medicine is large, bylowering the first rotor 23, the pile of medicine on the first rotor 23is moved to the movement section 37, and the topmost part of themedicine pile is transferred to the second rotor 35. When the quantityof the medicine becomes low and the medicine on the second rotor 35 isexhausted, the first rotor 23 is raised to approach the second rotor 35and facilitate movement of medicine from the first rotor 23 to secondrotor 35.

In the embodiment described above, although the distance of the secondrotor 35 between the movement section 37, in which the medicine from thefirst rotor 23 moves to the second rotor 35, and height regulator 41 isconstant, it is also possible to make this distance changeable. This ispossible by changing the inclination direction of the first rotor 23. Ifthe quantity of medicine is large, and if the distance from the movementsection 37 up to the height regulator 41 is short, the quantity of themedicine clogging at the height regulator 41 or the quantity of medicinedropping increases, and as it will take more time for discharge, andtherefore, the position of the movement section 37 is moved away fromthe height regulator 41 so that the distance from the movement section37 up to the height regulator 41 becomes longer. When the quantity ofmedicine is low, as it takes longer to reach the height regulator 41 ifthe distance from the movement section 37 to height regulator 41 islonger, the position of the movement section 37 is moved nearer to theheight regulator 41 so as the shorten the distance between the movementsection 37 and height regulator 41.

As shown in FIG. 16(A), an openable/closable lid 84 may be provided atthe opening end of the recovery section 79, which is the second passageway of the medicine passage 77, the openable/closable lid 84 may bebiased in the closing direction of the opening end by a spring 85, andthe lid 84 may open and position the mouth of the recovery container 2below the opening end of the recovery section 79 by pressing the lid 84at the mouth of the recovery container 2. With this, it becomes possibleto accumulate the medicine in the recovery section 79 closed by lid 84,and at once retrieve the accumulated medicine into the recoverycontainer 2.

Further, a holding mechanism for holding the medicine container 1 may beprovided to the medicine feeding device to grip the medicine container 1with the holding mechanism so that even without manually holding themedicine container 1, the medicine that was dispensed from thedispensing section 78 can be dispensed into the medicine container 1.

Whether the medicine supplied on the first rotor 23 is completelydispensed or not is visually checked by the operator. However, even whenthe medicine is remaining undispensed, there is risk of an operatorerroneously determining that it has been completely dispensed. In suchcase, if a different medicine is supplied to the first rotor 23 forcounting of the quantity of the next medicine, different types ofmedicines will mix, and there is a possibility of not only causingmistake in counting, but also of supplying a wrong medicine to thepatient resulting in medical mishaps.

Therefore, after the counting of the medicine is finished, beforesupplying the next medicine, the second rotor 35 is rotated in reversedirection for a predetermined duration. With this, even if the medicineis remaining on the second rotor 35, particularly, between inner guide66 and outer guide 57, such medicine will be dropped onto the firstrotor 23 by the width regulator 52. After this, the medicine guidesection 65 is closed by moving the outer guide 57 to the maximum limitto the inside, and further, the height regulator 41 is raised to themaximum limit. The height regulator 41 may also be raised beforeoperating the outer guide 57. Subsequently, the first rotor 23 and thesecond rotor 35 are rotated in normal direction. With this, the medicineon the first rotor 23 moves onto the second rotor 35, and althoughpasses through the height regulator 41, falls onto the first rotor 23due to the width regulator 52, and this process is repeated. Here, if amedicine is detected to have passed through the height regulator 41, orthe width regulator 52, it becomes possible to notify the fact that amedicine is remaining undispensed by sounding an alarm or the like.Regarding the timing of the reverse rotation of the second rotor 35, itis preferable to do so after the lid 84 of the recovery section 79 ofthe second passage described above changes from an open to closed stateand the medicine accumulated in the recovery section 79 is retrieved,for example.

In the embodiment described above, the first rotor 23 was formed smallerthan the second rotor 35 and arranged in the projection area of theinner circumference of the second rotor 35, however, as shown in FIG.17, it is also possible to have a configuration wherein the first rotor23 is made larger than the second rotor 35, and a part of the outercircumference that is opposite to the movement section 37 of the secondrotor 35 is disposed outside the outer circumference of the second rotor35.

Although the embodiment described above is provided with a monitoringfunction of confirming the medicine ID and prescription ID, it is alsopossible to provide an inventory operation support function wherein onlythe medicine ID is confirmed, and this medicine ID and count value ofthe medicine are recorded. With the inventory operation supportfunction, beyond the business hours of a pharmacy, it will be possibleto determine the amount of the stock inventories of the medicines thatare regularly used in the pharmacy. Or it may include a countingfunction in which the quantity of medicine is simply counted withoutconfirming the medicine ID and prescription ID.

If the tip of the inner guide 66 (the tip in the upstream side ofrotational direction of the second rotor 35) of the embodiment describedabove is at a higher position than the top surface of the second rotor35, there is a risk of the medicine that is being transported on thesecond rotor 35 colliding with the tip of the inner guide 66 and gettingdamaged. Therefore, it is preferable that the tip of the inner guide 66,as shown in FIG. 20, is on the inside of the inner circumferential edgeof the second rotor 35, and also at a position lower than the topsurface of the second rotor 35. Moreover, in FIG. 20, unlike in theembodiment described above, the second rotor rotates in a clockwisedirection in the drawing. It is further preferable to provide aprotruding section 66 a from the bottom end of the inner guide 66 towardthe inner circumferential edge of the second rotor 35 to fill the gapbetween the bottom end of the inner guide 66 and the innercircumferential edge of the second rotor 35. With this, a medicine thatis moved back to the second rotor 35 following contact with the inclinedsurface 69 can be prevented from falling from the gap between the bottomend of the inner guide 66 and the inner circumferential edge of thesecond rotor 35.

<Vertical Movement Mechanism of the First Rotor>

In the embodiment described above, the vertical position of the firstrotor 23 is fixed with respect to the second rotor 35. In such case, thevolume of medicine supply space on the first rotor 23 is limited.Accordingly, the first rotor 23 may be provided as vertically-movablewith respect to the second rotor 35. The vertical movement mechanism ofthe first rotor 23 is described below.

FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 show an embodiment wherein the first rotor 23 isprovided so as to be vertically-movable with respect to the second rotor35 parallel to the second shaft (not shown) of the second rotor 35. Thefirst rotor 23 is supported along with the first drive motor 28 at thetop end of the rectangular cylindrical movable frame 90 by a bracket 91.In the outer surface of walls on both sides of the lower end of themovable frame 90 is provided with one pair of rollers 92 as camfollowers. In the outer surface of walls on other both sides of themovable frame 90 where rollers 92 are not provided, a ridge 93 extendingin the vertical direction is formed. The movable frame 90 is housedinside a rectangular cylindrical fixed frame 95 fixed to the base plate94 of the device body. A guide projection 96 that extends vertically andto which the ridge 93 of the movable frame 90 is engaged slidably isprovided inside the fixed frame 95. A notch 97 orienting downward fromthe top end of both side surfaces of the fixed frame 95 is formed, andthe shaft of the roller 92 is fitted to this notch 97 such that theroller 92 is positioned outside of the notch 97.

A cam tube 99 provided with a cam surface 98 at the top end is rotatablymounted on the base plate 94 of the device body. On the cam surface 98,rollers 92 of the movable frame 90 are placed such that they can berolled. The cam surface 98 is made of a first inclined surface 98 aascending at an inclination of about 20° from the first point P1 of thevery bottom, a second inclined surface 98 b descending at an inclinationof about 60° from a second point P2 at topmost position of the firstinclined surface 98 a, a third inclined surface 98 c ascending at aninclination of about 20° from a third point P3 of the second inclinedsurface 98 b, and a fourth inclined surface 98 d descending at aninclination of about 60° from fourth point P4 at the topmost position ofthe third inclined surface 98 c up to the first point P1. When therollers 92 of the movable frame 90 are at the first point P1 and thirdpoint P3 at the very bottom, the first rotor 23 supported by the movableframe 90 is located at the lowermost position, and when the rollers 92are at the second point P2 and fourth point P4 in the topmost position,the first rotor 23 is at the topmost position. The cam cylinder 99 has adrive shaft 100 projecting downward from the base plate 94. The driveshaft 100 is provided with a worm gear 101, and this worm gear 101 iscoupled to the elevating motor 104 via a worm 102 and drive gear 103.When the cam cylinder 99 is rotated by driving the elevating motor 104,the roller 92 of the movable frame 90 rolls along the cam surface 98 ofthe cam cylinder 99, the movable frame 90 slowly ascends from the firstpoint P1 and third point P3 at the very bottom to the second point P2and fourth point P4 at the topmost position, and rapidly descends fromthe second point P2 and fourth point P4 that are at topmost position. Itis also possible to use a rack and pinion mechanism in lieu of such acam mechanism.

The lower end of the cylindrical partition wall 18 is attached to thetop end of the fixed frame 95. The partition wall 18 is constituted ofan oval-shaped lower part 18 a and a substantially conical shaped upperpart 18 b. The lower part 18 a of the partition wall 18 is anoval-shaped cylinder wherein the inclined first rotor 23 is accommodatedwith a minimum gap. The top end of the lower part 18 a is an oval shape,and is connected to the lower end of the upper part 18 b that inclinesalong the outer circumferential edge of the first rotor 23 located atthe topmost position. A section of the lower end of the upper part 18 bopposite to the highest position of the inclined first rotor 23coincides with the upper end of the lower part 18 a, and the sectionopposite to lowest position of the inclined first rotor 23 extendsobliquely upward so as to separate in the outer direction from the upperend of the lower part 18 a. The top end of the upper part 18 b iscircular so as to extend along the inner circumferential edge of thesecond rotor 35.

On the inner surface of a section of the upper part 18 b of thepartition wall 18 opposite to the lowest position of the inclined firstrotor 23, as shown in FIG. 23(A), a tablet-rise-suppression surface 105inclining upwards so as to approach the first rotor 23 from the lowerend, and a tablet-drop-guide surface 106 inclining downwards so as toapproach the first rotor 23 from the upper end are provided. Thetablet-rise-suppression surface 105, by gathering the tablets, whichhave accumulated in the outer circumference with the rotation of thefirst rotor 23, toward the center of the first rotor 23, prevents thesetablets from reaching the second rotor 35 above to merge with thetablets that are transported on the second rotor 35 and blocking thespace between the inner guide 66 and the outer guide 57. In thedownstream of the inner guide 66 of the second rotor 35, the need toinhibit the rise of the tablets is eliminated, and rather the tabletsmust be lifted from the first rotor 23 towards the movement section 37of the tablets to the second rotor 35, and therefore, as shown in FIG.23(B), the inclination of the tablet-rise-suppression surface 105 ismoderate.

The operation of the vertical movement mechanism of the first rotor 23is described. When operating the vertical movement mechanism of thefirst rotor 23, the medicine detection sensor 51 for detecting themedicine transported on the second rotor 35 is used. The medicinedetection sensor 51 is provided in the outer wall 20 of thecircumference of the second rotor 35. A recess 107 of a size which atablet cannot enter is provided in the inner surface of the outer wall20, and a hole 108 is provided at the bottom of this recess 107 to embeda lens 109, which transmits the light of the medicine detection sensor51, in this hole 108. With this, because tablets do not contact with thelens 109, it is possible to prevent damage to the lens 109 due tocontact with the lens 109 while being transported on the second rotor35.

When a medicine is supplied to the first rotor 23, the first rotor 23 isin the lowermost position. When the first rotor 23 and the second rotor35 are rotated, tablets on the first rotor 23 accumulate and pile up inthe outer circumference, moves from the first rotor 23 on to the secondrotor 35 through the movement section 37, and transported on the secondrotor 35 and discharged as described above.

Along with the sequential discharge of the medicine, because the pile ofmedicine on the first rotor 23 decreases, the medicine will not be ableto move from the first rotor 23 onto the second rotor 35 through themovement section 37, and the medicine transported on the second rotor 35will become exhausted. Then, because the medicine detection sensor 51will not be able to detect medicine transported on the second rotor 35,the first rotor 23 is lifted so as to be closer to the second rotor 35.With this, the medicine on the first rotor 23 is transported from thefirst rotor 23 to the second rotor 35 through the movement section 37,and since the medicine detection sensor 51 detects the medicinetransported on the second rotor 35, and therefore, the lifting of thefirst rotor 23 is stopped. With this, it is possible to continue thedischarge of the medicine. By repeating this, all the medicine on thefirst rotor 23 can be discharged.

When supplying the medicine on to the first rotor 23, in order to ensurethe accommodating space, the first rotor 23 is descended so as toseparate from the second rotor 35.

The vertical movement mechanism of the second rotor 35 is not limited tothe embodiment described above and, as shown in FIG. 26, the first rotor23 may be lifted parallel to the first shaft 24.

Further, as shown in FIG. 27, it is also possible to elevate the firstrotor 23 along an arc S with the point O as the center in the planeformed by the first shaft 24 of the first rotor 23 and the second shaft(not illustrated) of the second rotor 35. In this case, it is preferableto configure the center point O of the arc, though optional, such thathighest position of the first rotor 23 is toward the center of the arc.With this, if the first rotor 23 is moved downward along the arc, theinclination of the first rotor 23 becomes larger. In general, thegreater the quantity of the medicine loaded on the first rotor 23, theeasier it is for the top surface of the medicine cluster to become flat.If the top surface of the medicine cluster is flat, the top surface ofthe medicine cluster on the lowest position of the first rotor 23reaches the inner guide 66 of the second rotor 35, and will mix with themedicine that is being transported as a single line by the inner guideresulting in a problem of clogging of the medicine. However, as shown inFIG. 27, if the inclination of the first rotor 23 that has moveddownward is larger, even if a large number of medicines are loaded onthe first rotor 23, it will be difficult for the top surface of themedicines to become flat. As a result, in the vicinity of the innerguide 66, the top surface of the tablet cluster on the first rotor 23will be lower than the second rotor 35, and the problem of occurrence ofclogging due to mixing with the medicine transported on the second rotor35 described above can be avoided.

<Medicine Supply System>

The medicine supply system that processes the counting operation of themedicine counting device according to the present invention (hereinaftersimply referred to as counter 110) by linking to the prescription datawill be explained based on the block diagram of FIG. 28, flow charts ofFIGS. 29 to 36, and screen diagrams of FIGS. 37 to 43.

Several numbers of counters 110 are installed in a large pharmacy, andare connected along with other medicine feeding devices and medicinepackaging devices to a host system 111111 of the pharmacy. There areresident pharmacists performing inspection of the host system 111111,and there are resident operators (medicine technicians) carrying outoperation of the counter 110 on the counter 110 side.

A host system 111 is a system for dispensing required medicine as perthe prescription data of a patient and supplying it to the patient. Thehost system 111, as shown in FIG. 28, is provided with

-   -   a counter 110 or other medicine feeding device,    -   a control unit 112 for data communication with a medicine        packaging device,    -   a monitoring unit 113 to verify the medicine to be supplied to        the patient against the prescription data,    -   a prescription label printer 114 to print a label according to        the prescription data,    -   a label printer 115 for printing the label to be pasted on to        the vial bottle according to the prescription data, and    -   a prescription master 116 storing the prescription data, etc.

The counter 110 is provided with

-   -   a control unit 117 that controls the operation of the counter        110 and also communicates data with a control unit 112 of the        host host system 111,    -   a bar code reader 118 to read the bar code on a stock bottle of        a prescription label or of medicine, and vial bottle,    -   a tray photographing camera 119 (similar to the third camera 89        c in the embodiment described above) for photographing the        medicine present on the tray (a medicine accommodation area        primarily consisting of the first rotor 23, second rotor 35 and        partition wall 18 of the embodiment described above) of the        counter 110, and    -   a vial bottle/prescription label photographing camera 120 for        photographing the vial bottle and the prescription supplied to        the patient.

In addition, the counter 110 is provided with

-   -   a medicine master 121 for storing the names, shapes, sizes and        the like of various types of medicines,    -   a vial bottle master 122 for storing such as sizes of vial        bottles and accommodating capacities of various types of        medicines,    -   an image data master 123 for storing the images obtained with        tray photographing camera 119 and vial bottle/prescription label        photographing camera 120,    -   a communications data master 124 for storing the communication        data received from or sent to the control unit 112 of the host        host system 111, and    -   a touch-panel type operation display panel 125.

Power-on and the Login Operation

As shown in FIG. 29, on the counter 110 side, when an operator powers onthe counter 110 (S101), the control unit 117 starts the application,awaits the login from the host system 111, starts the web service host(S102), and initializes the counter 110 (S103).

On the other hand, on the host system 111 side, when a pharmacist logsinto the host system 111 (S201) based on the power-on of the counter110, the control unit 112 of the host system 111 performs authenticationof the user (S202) and forwards a login request to the counter 110(S203). With this, when the login request from the host system 111 isreceived at the counter 110 (S104), the login response is sent to thehost system 111 (S105). Upon receiving the login response from thecounter 110, the host side system 111 acknowledges the login (S204). Inthis way, unless a login request from the host system 111 side isreceived, the counter 110 side cannot perform the counting processlinking to prescription.

On login, a menu screen shown in FIG. 37 is displayed on the operationdisplay screen of the counter 110. The menu screen is composed of atouch panel, and is provided with

-   -   a counting process (Counting for Rx) button for prescription        wherein the counting process linked to prescription (Rx) is        performed,    -   a manual counting process (Counting for manual) button wherein        the counting of required quantity of medicine is performed        without linking to prescription,    -   a master maintenance (Master Maintenance) button to add or        correct a medicine in the medicine master 121, and    -   an advanced setting (Advanced Setting) button for environmental        setting or the like.

Medicine Prescription Process by the Counter

When the operator of the counter 100 touches the button of the countingprocess for the prescription, a prescription scan standby screen shownin FIG. 38 is displayed (S106)

When the operator issues the prescription issue instruction to the hostsystem 111, the control unit 112 of the host system 111 receives theprescription issue instructions (S206), generates the prescription labelthat is printed in the prescription label printer 114 (S207).

On the prescription scan standby screen of the counter 110, as it hasbeen instructed to scan the prescription label as shown in FIG. 38, theoperator receives the issued prescription, and scans with the bar codereader 118 of the counter 110. When the scan is performed (S107), thecontrol unit 117 of the counter 110 reads the prescription label (S108),and displays the count screen shown in FIG. 39 (S109). Subsequently, thecontrol unit sends Rx data request to the host system 111 for receivingdetailed prescription information from the host system 111 (S110).

The host system 111, upon receiving the Rx data request from the counter110 (S208), sends the Rx data response along with the prescription data(S209).

When the counter 110 receives the Rx data response (S111), in additionto storing the received data in the communications data master 124(S112), also displays the prescription data (prescription number (Rx)),name of the patient (Patient), code and name of the medicine (Drug), andthe requested amount (Request) on the count screen as shown in thediagram (S113), and searches the image of the medicine corresponding tothe prescription data from the medicine master 121 and displays on thecount screen (S114).

Next, the control unit 117 of the counter 110 searches the size of themedicine corresponding to the prescription from the medicine master 121,and adjusts the tray size of the counter 110 according to the size ofthis medicine (S115). The tray size refers to the specified height bythe height regulator 41 and the transport width of the second rotor 35by the width regulator 52 described above. On the count screen, since ithas been instructed to scan the stock bottle as shown in FIG. 39, theoperator extracts the stock bottle corresponding to the medicine name ofthe prescription data, and scans with the bar code reader 118 of thecounter 110. When scanning is done (S116), the control unit 117 of thecounter 110 reads the stock bottle bar code (S117), checks whether themedicine of the stock bottle is the medicine to be counted (S118), andif correct, displays ‘OK’ for the item stock bottle check (Check a StockBottle) in the check (Check) column of the count screen of FIG. 39, anddisplays for loading the medicine (S119). When ‘OK’ is displayed andthere is instruction for loading the medicine, the operator loads themedicine from stock bottle in the tray of the counter 110.

Next, the control unit 117 of the counter 110 issues instructions to thehost system 111 for label generation (S120). The control unit 112 of thehost host system 111, upon receiving the instruction from the counter110 for issuing of label (S210), issues a label with the prescriptiondata printed on a blank label in the label printer 115 (S211). Theoperator at the counter receives the issued label and pastes it onto thevial bottle. The control unit 117 of counter 110 instructs the countscreen to scan the label (S121). With this, the operator scans the labelpasted on the vial bottle with the bar code reader 118 of the counter110. Following scanning (S122), the control unit 117 of the counter 110reads the label bar code (S123), checks whether the prescription shownon the label is indeed the prescription to be counted (S124), and ifcorrect, displays ‘OK’ for the item label check (Check a Vial Label) inthe check (Check) column of the count screen of FIG. 39.

If the label check is ‘OK’, the operator instructs, in the count screen,start of the tray imaging. When the control unit 117 of the counter 110receives instruction for start of the tray imaging (S125), the counter110 operates (S126), captures the tray image (S127), and displays thecaptured tray image on the left side of the camera image capture screen(Live) in FIG. 40 (S128). The counter 110 is operated until the medicineon the first rotor 23 moves to the second rotor 35 and transported onthe second rotor 35 and the medicine sensor 51 detects the arrival atthe height regulator 41. The tray imaging captures in real time theimage of the medicine stopped at this height regulator 41. The operatorchecks to confirm that the medicine in the tray image displayed on thecamera image capture screen is same as the image of the prescriptionmedicine (S129), and in case the stamping of the medicine or the likecannot be confirmed, the operation of the counter 110 is retried, andrepeated till confirmation. The confirmation of the medicine and theinstruction for retrying at this time is performed by the pharmacist whois in the monitoring unit 113 of the host system 111. If the image isconfirmed (S129), ‘OK’ is displayed for the item tray image (CaptureTray) in the check (Check) column of the count screen of FIG. 39, and atray image (Still picture) such as an image at the right-hand side ofFIG. 40 is stored in the image data master 123 (S130).

If the tray image is ‘OK’, the operator fixes a vial bottle to thedispense section 78 of the counter 110. Once the fixing of the vialbottle is detected (S131), the control unit 117 of counter 110 performsthe counting process (S132). When the counting is finished, the controlunit 117 of the counter 110 displays ‘OK’ for the count (Count) item ofthe Check (check) column in addition to displaying the counted numericalvalue at the center of count screen. When the count becomes ‘OK’,because an instruction to scan the stock bottle (stock bottle) forrecovering the medicine remaining in the tray will be displayed on thecount screen, the stock bottle loaded with medicine is scanned by thebar code reader 118 of the counter 110. When the scanning is performed(S133), the control unit 117 of the counter 110 reads the stock bottlebar code (S134), checks whether the stock bottle is correct (S135), andif correct, medicine recovery process is performed (S136).

Although it is optional to recount the medicines that were counted bycounter 110 and accommodated in a vial bottle for safety, if re-count isinstructed by the operator (S137), and the fixing of the vial bottle isdetected (S138), the control unit 117 of the counter 110 executes theprocess of re-counting (S139). After the re-count, the operator attachesthe cap on the vial bottle, and places the vial bottle and theprescription label, which is in a state wherein the vial bottle isplaced over the prescription label, underneath the vialbottle/prescription label photographing camera 120. Subsequently, theoperator instructs imaging of vial bottle and prescription label on thecount screen. Upon instruction for the imaging of vial bottle andprescription label (S140), the control unit 117 of the counter 110photographs the vial bottle and prescription label (S141), and thecaptured image of the vial bottle and prescription label is displayed inthe second tier of photograph column on the count screen (S142). In caseit is not possible to confirm the contents of the label of the vialbottle or the prescription label from the captured image, it is possibleto retry capturing an image of the vial bottle and prescription labelWhen the host system 111 side pharmacist confirms the completion of asequence of operations (S143), the control unit 117 of the counter 110creates the prescription completion data (S144), and forwards theprescription completion data to the host system 111 (S145). The controlunit 112 of the host host system 111 receives the prescriptioncompletion data (S212), and discontinues the sequence of operations.

Splitting of Vial Bottles

Although the control unit 117 of the counter 110 selects the size of thevial bottle based on the prescription data, in case the prescriptionamount cannot be accommodated in a single vial bottle, as shown in thescreen of FIG. 41, multiple vial bottles (in the example of FIG. 41,40DR 3 parts) are displayed in the vial bottle split (Split Vial)column, which indicates accommodating of 40 medicines in 2 vial bottles,and 20 medicines in one remaining vial bottle, and thereby apredetermined quantity is counted and put into each vial bottleaccordingly.

Processing of Shortage

During the counting process, in case the medicine in the tray becomesexhausted before finishing counting the prescribed quantity of amedicine, i.e. if the tablet detecting sensor is not detecting themedicine, it results in state of shortage. In this case, it is necessaryto add the medicine into the tray.

As shown in FIG. 34, if a shortage is inferred (S151), the control unit117 of the counter 110 temporarily stops the discharge and counting ofthe medicine (S152), and instructs for scanning of new stock bottle. Theoperator takes a new stock bottle corresponding to the medicine name ofthe prescription data, and scans it with the bar code reader 118 of thecounter 110. When the scanning is performed (S153), the control unit 117of the counter 110 reads the new stock bottle bar code (S154), andchecks whether the medicine of the new stock bottle is the intendedmedicine to be counted (S118). The counting process (S132) is continuedsubsequently.

Processing of Liquid Medicines and Packaged Medicine Other than Tablets

Bottles of liquid medicines or packaged medicines containing medicine ina box cannot be counted with the counter 110. However, it will bepossible to monitor them by the counter 110 in conjunction withprescription.

In case of prescriptions of liquid medicine or packaged medicine, theoperator places the bottle of the liquid medicine, or the box underneaththe vial bottle/prescription label photographing camera 120. Then, theoperator instructs the imaging of liquid medicine bottle and box on thecount screen. As shown in FIG. 35, when there is instruction for imagingof liquid medicine bottle and box (S161), the control unit 117 of thecounter 110 captures the image of liquid medicine bottle and box (S162),and displays the image of liquid medicine bottle and box in the secondtier of the image column of the count screen (S163). In case it is notpossible to confirm the content of labels of the liquid medicine bottleand box from the captured image, it is possible to retry taking an imageof the liquid medicine bottle and box (S164).

Next, the operator places prescription label of the liquid medicinebottle and box underneath the vial bottle/prescription labelphotographing camera 120. Then, the operator instructs prescriptionlabel imaging on the count screen. Upon instruction for the imaging ofprescription label (S165), the control unit 117 of the counter 110photographs the prescription label (S166), and the captured image of theprescription label is displayed in the third tier of photograph columnon the count screen (S167). Further, in case the contents of theprescription label cannot be confirmed from the captured image, it ispossible to retry the operation of imaging the prescription label(S168).

Processes following completion of a sequence of operation are same asafter step S5143.

Manual Counting

The medicine counting device according to the present invention can alsobe employed to manually count for only counting medicine without linkingto prescription data.

When carrying out such manual counting, the operator touches the manualcount processing button on the menu screen shown in FIG. 37. If there isinstruction for manual counting (S171), the control unit 117 of thecounter 110 displays manual dispense screen shown in FIG. 42 (S172). Theoperator specifies the required count number using the numeric keypad onthe screen, takes the stock bottle to be counted, either scans with thea bar code reader 118 of the counter 110, or manually inputs the NDC onthe screen.

When the scanning is done (S174), the control unit 117 of counter 110reads the stock bottle bar code (S175). Or when manually entering theNDC (S176), medicine master 121 is searched to identify the medicine(S177). Next, the control unit 117 of counter 110 adjusts the tray sizeof the counter 110, i.e., the stipulated height by the height regulator41 and transfer width of the second rotor 35 by the width regulator 52based on the size of the medicine (S178). Next, the control unit 117 ofthe counter 110 prompts to charge the medicine in the tray (S179), andin case there is count instruction (S180), performs the counting (S181)and completes the counting process (S182).

In the manual count process, it is possible to select ‘Count All’ or‘Input Value’ for specifying the count number. When “Count All” isselected, and when all the medicine loaded in the tray has been counted,it will end. When “Input Value” is selected, the input quantity iscounted. In this case, if the number of medicines is less than the inputquantity, shortage processing described above is carried out. In thisshortage processing, it is necessary to scan the stock bottle NDC codeto check whether it is same as the medicine being counted.

In the embodiment described above, although a medicine feeding devicewas employed in a medicine counting device, it is also possible to useit in medicine packaging devices wherein a large variety of medicinesare respectively housed in cassettes, and a predetermined medicine ispacked according to the prescription labels.

What is claimed is:
 1. A medicine feeding device, comprising: a first rotor configured to rotate around a first axis; a second rotor in annular shape configured to rotate around a second axis extending in a direction different from that of the first axis; a partition wall extending from an inner circumference of the second rotor toward an outer circumference of the first rotor; a width regulator having a width regulating section movable in a radially outward direction of the second rotor so as to form a predetermined gap between an inner circumference of the second rotor and said width regulator for adjusting a medicine transport width to be smaller than a full width of medicine; and a medicine discharging port provided outside in a radial direction of the second rotor, wherein: a medicine fed to the first rotor is transferred by rotation of said first rotor to the second rotor from a transfer part, and the medicine transferred to the second rotor is transported to a downstream side of the transfer part towards the medicine discharging port in a rotating direction by rotation of said second rotor.
 2. The medicine feeding device according to claim 1, wherein two gaps of different heights are formed symmetrically with respect to the first axis between an inner circumference of the second rotor and an outer circumference of the first rotor.
 3. The medicine feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the transfer part comprises the gap with a smaller height.
 4. The medicine feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a medicine guiding section configured to guide the medicine transferred to the second rotor to the medicine discharging port.
 5. The medicine feeding device according to claim 4, wherein the medicine guiding section comprises: an inner guide provided downstream of a medicine transport direction along the second rotor which extends from an inner circumference of the second rotor towards the medicine discharging port; and an outer guide provided in parallel with respect to the inner guide in a radially outward direction of the second rotor and having a gap width which is approximately the same as a width of medicine.
 6. The medicine feeding device according to claim 5, further comprising a height regulator provided downstream of the medicine transport direction along the second rotor that is positioned between the transfer part and the medicine discharging port so as to have an adjustable gap which is approximately the same as a height of the medicine from an upper surface of the second rotor.
 7. The medicine feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the width regulating section is partially positioned above the second rotor and is provided with a first curved portion such that the predetermined gap is formed between the inner circumference of the second rotor and said first curved portion.
 8. The medicine feeding device according to claim 7, wherein the width regulator is configured to adjust the medicine transport width by regulating the predetermined gap which is formed between the inner circumference of the second rotor and said first curved portion of the width regulating section.
 9. The medicine feeding device according to claim 8, wherein the medicine transport width is equal to or greater than ½ of the width of medicine.
 10. The medicine feeding device according to claim 9, wherein the width regulator and the outer guide of the medicine guiding section are integrally provided for allowing simultaneous adjustment of the medicine transport width and the gap width formed between the inner and outer guides of the medicine guiding section.
 11. A medicine feeding device, comprising: a first rotor configured to rotate around a first axis; a second rotor configured to rotate around a second axis extending in a direction different from that of the first axis such that an outer circumference of the first rotor forms a small step with respect to an inner circumference of the second rotor, wherein the second rotor is positioned above the first rotor and forms a ring as viewed in an axial direction of said second axis; a partition wall extending from the inner circumference of the second rotor toward the outer circumference of the first rotor; a width regulator positioned in a radially outward direction of the second rotor so as to form a predetermined gap between an inner circumference of the second rotor and said width regulator for adjusting a medicine transport width to be smaller than a full width of medicine; and a medicine discharging port provided outside in a radial direction of the second rotor, wherein: a medicine fed to the first rotor is transferred by rotation of said first rotor to the second rotor from the small step formed between the outer circumference of the first rotor and the inner circumference of the second rotor, and the medicine transferred to the second rotor is transported to a downstream side of the small step towards the medicine discharging port in a rotating direction by rotation of said second rotor.
 12. The medicine feeding device according to claim 11, further comprising a medicine guiding section configured to guide the medicine transferred to the second rotor to the medicine discharging port, wherein the medicine guiding section comprises: an inner guide provided downstream of a medicine transport direction along the second rotor which extends from an inner circumference of the second rotor towards the medicine discharging port; and an outer guide provided in parallel with respect to the inner guide in a radially outward direction of the second rotor and having a gap width which is approximately the same as a width of medicine.
 13. The medicine feeding device according to claim 12, further comprising a height regulator provided downstream of the medicine transport direction along the second rotor that is positioned between the small gap and the medicine discharging port so as to have an adjustable gap which is approximately the same as a height of the medicine from an upper surface of the second rotor.
 14. The medicine feeding device according to claim 11, wherein the width regulator is configured to adjust the medicine transport width by regulating the predetermined gap formed between the inner circumference of the second rotor and said width regulator.
 15. The medicine feeding device according to claim 14, wherein the medicine transport width is equal to or greater than ½ of the width of medicine.
 16. The medicine feeding device according to claim 15, wherein the width regulator and the outer guide of the medicine guiding section are integrally provided for allowing simultaneous adjustment of the medicine transport width and the gap width formed between the inner and outer guides of the medicine guiding section.
 17. A medicine counting device provided with a medicine feeding device, comprising: a first rotor configured to rotate around a first axis; a second rotor in annular shape configured to rotate around a second axis extending in a direction different from that of the first axis; a partition wall extending from an inner circumference of the second rotor toward an outer circumference of the first rotor; a width regulator having a width regulating section movable in a radially outward direction of the second rotor so as to form a predetermined gap between an inner circumference of the second rotor and said width regulator for adjusting a medicine transport width to be smaller than a full width of medicine; and a medicine discharging port provided outside in a radial direction of the second rotor, wherein: a medicine fed to the first rotor is transferred by rotation of said first rotor to the second rotor from a transfer part, and the medicine transferred to the second rotor is transported to a downstream side of the transfer part towards the medicine discharging port in a rotating direction by rotation of said second rotor; a medicine detector means for detecting a medicine that is discharged from the medicine discharging port; and a counting means for counting number of medicines supplied based on a detection performed by the medicine detector means.
 18. The medicine feeding device according to claim 6, wherein the width regulator is provided downstream of the medicine transport direction along the second rotor that is positioned between the height regulator and the medicine guiding section.
 19. The medicine feeding device according to claim 13, wherein the width regulator is provided downstream of the medicine transport direction along the second rotor that is positioned between the height regulator and the medicine guiding section. 